Military laser weapon cuts border drone activity 75% in two weeks

Two weeks into deployment, the military's high-energy laser weapon system has destroyed eleven drones suspected of cartel surveillance along the southern border, and in that same window, the number of drone incursions in the Rio Grande Valley has fallen by roughly seventy-five percent. The system made its first kills on August twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth, after months of training that had prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily close El Paso's airport earlier in the year. Since then, military officials have established regular coordination with the FAA to prevent the laser from endangering civilian aircraft.

The laser represents a shift in how the military responds to the hundreds of drones that appear daily along the border. Existing jamming systems can force drones to return to their origin point or disable them temporarily, but a jammed drone can be sent back up again. The laser, by contrast, destroys the aircraft entirely—eliminating it as a tool the cartels can reuse. Since the start of the year, the military has intercepted three hundred drones linked to cartels; eleven of those fell to the laser in a ten-day span. Army Colonel Robert Felicio, commander of the one-hundred-thirtieth Maneuver Enhancement Brigade deployed to the border, told CBS News the change has been "significant." He did not specify daily drone counts, but Air Force General Gregory Guillot, head of U.S. Northern Command, told lawmakers in twenty twenty-four that the southern border experiences approximately one thousand drone incursions each month.

Military officials have acknowledged that the seventy-five percent drop may reflect multiple factors—cartels shifting routes, for instance—but the timing aligns with the laser's introduction. The system itself is relatively straightforward in operation. During a test CBS News observed, soldiers tracked a small quadcopter drone over an empty field using an Xbox controller and a camera feed displayed on a tablet-like device. Once locked on target, they deployed the laser. The effect was a brief flash of light; the beam itself was invisible, delivering instantaneous heat to precise points on the aircraft. When recovered, the test drone had a damaged propeller and missing battery but remained identifiable. The laser system in use is a version of LOCUST, produced by AeroVironment. The military has deployed multiple units along the border, and this week the Army awarded its first-ever contract for high-energy lasers—four hundred sixty-five million dollars to AeroVironment.

Operators like Army Lieutenant Owen Farquer have found the Xbox controller intuitive, particularly for soldiers who grew up with video games. The system is not without limitations. Rain, vapor, and other atmospheric conditions can degrade the beam's effectiveness. The Navy's top officer, Admiral Daryl Caudle, published an opinion piece in The Washington Post this week advocating for increased investment in high-energy laser weapons, framing them as one tool among many despite their constraints. Officials argue the system is cost-effective: individual units run between seventeen point four and twenty-five million dollars, according to budget documents cited by Laser Wars, a publication focused on military laser technology. Each shot costs approximately three dollars. By contrast, other air defense systems fire interceptors that cost millions of dollars apiece.

Safety concerns remain substantial. The FAA initially raised alarms about deploying the laser near civilian aircraft, warning that a misfire striking a plane would be catastrophic. Felicio said the military coordinates with the FAA before and after each laser use to ensure safe employment of the technology. He did not disclose whether the recent drone takedowns occurred on the U.S. or Mexican side of the border, but noted that the U.S. government is also coordinating with Mexican authorities on tracking potential threats. The cartels deploy drones primarily to survey positions of U.S. service members and law enforcement, allowing them to identify safe corridors for smuggling people and drugs. Army Lieutenant Colonel Ray Richards, head of the two-hundred-eleventh Military Police Battalion from the Massachusetts National Guard, told CBS News that a seventy-five percent reduction in drone capability has direct financial consequences for the cartels. "When you think of that reduction and how that spreads based on X amount of dollars tied to that—I think when you talk about disruption to the cartels, that is a huge part of that story," he said.

The threat extends beyond surveillance. A recent report from the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, funded by the Department of Homeland Security, documented two hundred twenty-one incidents between twenty twenty-one and twenty twenty-five in which armed drones operated by cartels attacked rival groups inside Mexico, resulting in seventy-seven fatalities. Military officials are weighing this threat against the safety of roughly eight thousand U.S. service members and law enforcement personnel stationed along the border. Felicio and Richards brought CBS News to an overlook in the Rio Grande Valley to demonstrate how little distance separates U.S. positions from where drones originate. Service members had tracked the same drone passing near the overlook three times before the CBS News crew arrived, though no drones were visible during the visit. Felicio emphasized the strategic difference the laser makes: jamming forces a drone back temporarily, but the cartel retains the asset and can deploy it again. The laser removes that possibility entirely. "If I'm able to use the laser, now that's gone," he said. "That's, I think, really where this is making a huge difference."